Use of porn damages relationships: Study

London, Jan 18 (IANS) Use of pornographic material in a relationship has “overwhelmingly negative” consequences, Britain’s leading sex and relationship experts have found.

Around 70 percent of men aged 18-34 admitting to using porn at least once a month, the Daily Mail reported citing Cosmopolitan magazine.

The magazine questioned 68 sex and relationship experts about the effects of porn on relationships, and the result was said to be “overwhelmingly negative”.

Around 86 percent of the therapists believe porn had a negative effect on relationships and 90 percent have seen an increase in relationship problems due to porn.

As porn is now so easily accessible, plain “vanilla” sex was becoming less desirable, while porn addiction is on the increase.

Almost all of the therapists surveyed – 94 percent — have seen an increase in incidents of porn addiction and 63 percent believe porn increases men’s expectations of sex with their partner.

Porn has crushed the confidence of men and women in the bedroom, it said.

Men are suffering from performance anxiety because of the “impressive” feats seen in porn, while women feel insecure about their bodies and feel pressured to “perform” like porn stars in the bedroom.

“Porn can affect men’s ability to form relationships with real women, rather than those on their laptop,” said psycho-sexual therapist Carol Featherstone.

IANS 2013-01-18 18:28:03